Recommended Posts

A gaggle of Double Fine folk recently got back from an extremely excellent PAX showing, and despite being our first time as an exhibitor at a major gaming event, it couldn't have gone better.

We showed off some of the documentary, appeared on a couple of panels, and spent the whole weekend meeting awesome backers and fans at our booth. Tim and Ron wrote their names a lot. For more on our expo shenanigans, enjoy the latest episode of the Double Fine Action Cast, which covers PAX as well as our new game Middle Manager of Justice: http://www.doublefine.com/dfactioncast

During one of the panels, we teased bits of Episode 5, but only you, our valued backers, can see the entire thing in its full-length glory. This episode marks a crucial moment in the development of the game as we move from pre-production and planning into true production, with all of the trials and tribulations that brings:

[vimeo]49704833[/vimeo]

LUMBERJACK ART PRINT

If you sauntered over to our booth at PAX, you may have notice a new addition to our impressive selection of goods: art prints. There are so many excellent artists here at Double Fine that it seems silly not to make high-quality reproductions of their work available publicly. We have corrected that bizarre oversight, and the first print we're releasing through the Double Fine Shop is beautiful panorama featuring everyone's favorite hipster lumberjack from Reds, created by Nathan "Bagel" Stapley. Feast your eyes: http://shop.doublefine.com/redsprint.aspx

REWARDS UPDATE

At this point, if you pledged at the $100 tier, you should have received your t-shirt and poster, or an emailed shipping notification indicating your goods are on the way (check your spam filter just in case). If you didn't get one, contact Fangamer at orders@fangamer.com.

If you pledged at the $250 level or above, sit tight. We're still working on getting all of your posters signed by the team. They'll go out just as soon as we can get them all together.

SLACKER BACKERS

If you have friends who want to get in on the game updates and documentary, point them over to our Slacker Backer form. Everyone should have a chance at adventure!

EPISODE NOTES

00:10 - Now that Lee has scanned everything, as much of the concept art as possible will be going into the production art book.

01:34 - Tim is humming the theme to Kinect Party.

03:15 - The Cave is currently having playtesting sessions all week at the office.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

This is easily the least fun part of game development. If I lived in the Bay area, I would definitely volunteer to intern and do menial animation tasks, but my art school is too far away (it's the thought that counts, right?).

Link to post

Share on other sites

I actually remember that exact day and moment. There was a The Cave meeting that was supposed to be in that room at that time, but the Reds meeting had gone long, and I wasn't sure if it was time to head in for Cave yet, so I took a look in and realized there were a bunch of cameras all pointing at me, so I left!

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

No, wait. Now this is dramatic documentary content! It's nice knowing that the documentary is about 2 months behind us and that most of the problems, stress and tension seen here is most likely resolved by now. Or at least they'll have moved on to new problems by now!

The concepts shown here are really beautiful, and on a conceptual level the game is seriously promising at this point. I do wonder though why outside concept artists were even hired when it now seems problematic that Bagel's concepts aren't on display. Not that I'm complaining, because the eye candy on display is lovely.

Also Chris Remo's little cameo after the meeting was a great laugh after so many worrying scenes.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I've been in meetings where supervisors are asking you to do something really hard or ambitious and they say, can we get that done? And you always say "Uh... yeah, I mean, yeah, I think we can..." sort of like that because it's really uncomfortable saying flat out "Frankly I don't know if I can do that." Maybe people in the game industry are better at saying that (maybe they have to be), but in my experience whatever people say, it's worse than what they're saying.

Here's an interesting story - Mega Man 2 was made on the development team's spare time while working simultaneously on other projects. Capcom felt like Mega Man's sales didn't warrant a sequel, and merely passively allowed the team to work on it (rather than supporting them in any way) as long as they continued to work on their other projects. Somehow they got it all done - it was down to their passion and commitment to the project. I believe the Double Fine staff have a similar passion and commitment, so even if they feel a bit overwhelmed, I'm not worried for the final product. It's exactly what Tim said at the end - nobody looks back and goes "What a great thing - it's totally reasonable and probably took the person just the right amount of time." I think the Miyamoto quote he's thinking of is this one: "A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad."

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

It's great to start seeing the production shift over from placeholders to the sort of characters and environments we've been teased with. I also couldn't help but grin when Peter McConnell showed up. I've always loved his work and I'm so glad that he's going to be composing for REDS.

This episode also shows the challenges this project is facing. They still have to work around that budget, and sacrifices will have to be made (literally, if it calls for it. I mean, that's what interns are for, right?).

Also, I love Chris Remo's NCR shirt. NCR 4 LYFE, YO.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

I actually remember that exact day and moment. There was a The Cave meeting that was supposed to be in that room at that time, but the Reds meeting had gone long, and I wasn't sure if it was time to head in for Cave yet, so I took a look in and realized there were a bunch of cameras all pointing at me, so I left!

Somebody is going to turn this into an animated .gif

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

That episode was just so exciting. Got a real feel for some of those meetings, a great overview of the development and paused over that board at the end to see just how real this is getting. It's amazing how fast all these different things have to happen and I just can't wait to see it all coming together.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Great episode! It's amazing to see how a project like this comes together, ups and downs included. Keep up the good work both 2 player productions with this series as well as Double Fine with the game!

Oh, and I have a question; is the animation done in 3D with 2D-art layered on top of it (if you understand what I'm trying to say) or am I mistaken? Because I got confused when the maiden stuck in a princess cake-animation was shown around 14:00. That seemed very 3D.

Share this post

Link to post

Share on other sites

Think how stressful it would have been if they only got 400,000 dollars. I know it would have been scaled down significantly but even still, I'm stressed/worried for them after watching that. Good luck guys, and don't worry, it's just your reputation and well-being on the line.